Container closure



July 22, 1952 Y v. D. H owE, sn

` CONTAINER CLOSURE Filed Jan. l1, 1950 R O VT. N I E V Am Lman D; Hou/ff BY' @El l( ,Mvum- Patented July 22, 1952 fUlyu'li-.eo STATES 2,604,224 vTENT orifice 2,604,224 CONTAINER oLosURE Vernon D. Howe, Sr., Buffalo, N. Y.

' Application January 11, 1950; Serial No.'137,930

My` invention relates inV general .to `coin banks, and in particularto the closure plates for. the access openings o'rsuch banks.

It is well known. to those skilled inthe art that heretoforeY coin banksof a. certain .type were made of cast iron and yprovided in the. .bottom with an .access /opening through. which. money deposited within the Vbank might -be Areadily removed. Such openings are closed by a singlepiece door or plate usually held inl place by means of an inexpensive lock. In some cases, such closure plateis circular and is formed with cam faces which engage the rim surrounding the access opening.

The principal object of my invention is to provide means for closing .the opening in the bottom of such banks and which may be fastened in place or removable by means of a screw driver. l

Another object is to provide a two-part. closure plate, having the parts held together by means of a single screw which need only be loosened when the plate is tobe removed from the bank.

A further object is to provide a closure plate having two relativelyT flat members each having a portion arranged in overlapping relation with the similar portion of the other plate member and held in extended position-within the bank opening by the fastening means.

Moreover, my inventionis of sucha nature that when .the fastening means is loosened, the

plate members may be moved toward each other j thus shortening the vclosure, plate for removal from the opening in, the bank.

A furtherobjectis to provide a Vsimple and inexpensive closure plate easily adapted for use s' claims. (o1. '22e-24) on present day or Yantique banks, the several v Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a typical coin bank, with portions thereof broken away to show my invention as used in connection therewith;

Fig; 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken on line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a slightly modified form of my invention; l

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a closure plate of another modied form;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the form of invention shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7- is a view similar to Fig.V 5 but shows the platevin its contracted position and partially removed from the opening; and,

Fig. 8` is a perspective View of still another modication of my invention.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the bank comprises a bottom member I0 which supports the side walls llvand topY .I2 of thebank. The bottom member is-providedwith an .access opening I3 through which Ithefcoins deposited in the bank maybe removedwhen desired. fMy plate E4 comprises two platemembers I5 and IG having their inner ends united by a rabbet *joint 2D formed by the overlapping portions 2i each. of which'is. preferably substantiallyone-half the thicknessof the plate member. The plate members when joined by therabbetjoint areso proportioned that they substantially ll the opening E3 in t-he bottom member of the bank. The plate members are preferably of substantially the same thickness as the bottom. member Ill, and each of them` is1provided with an offset. flangemember. 22- `whichis designed to engage the inner faceor top surface of thebottom memberwhen the plate is Vwithin the opening. andiniitsextended position, thereby bringing the surfaces of ythe-plate substantially ush vwith the surfaces of the-bottoni member. In this type of bank, the plate le is held inplace preferably ilush with the inside surface of the bottom Iby means of ridges Il extending upwardly from the bottom and over the adjacent edges of the opening-as clearly. shown in Fig. l. The two-members of the plate are held in fixed extended positions bymeans of a'fastening lscrew 23, which passes -throughtheoverlappingportions 2! of the mem-bers. `Since thelscrew must be-acoessible from the outside of the bank, it-is threaded into thel member I6 .andY a countersunk hole-is-provided inthefmember i5 forthe flathead of the screw. The fastening` screw in all formsof my invention issuciently long to permit ample separation of the plate members to accomplish thedesired results. It is preferableto have the hole which is engaged by the screwslightly larger indiameter than thevbody of the -screvfv so that itwill beflo'osely engaged by the screw when the latter is Ypartially unscrewed As clearly shown by the'dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 2, the two plate membersmay be positioned at an ang-le to each other Vfollowing the looseningy of thevscrew, which v.fillpermit the-plate to be contraotedsuciently so that one of-.the flanges 22- may be moved past the edge of. the opening, 'thereby permitting thev plate to beremovedfrom the opening.

The -size and positionof' the, iianges Hof-"my plate will varyaccordingto the design of the bank= bottomto-whioh my inventionis to be adapted.V For instance, the bank shownin Fig. 3 hasoertainridges 25- and fwhieh-"are arranged adjacent the Vopening andy which` extend upwardly from 'the bottoml 3G. The ange 21, therefore, ofthe plate member t'may be 4nearly the full width ofthe opening 32 in the bottom.

whereas the flange 33 fof `the plate member 34 is relatively narrow. v`Furthermore, in this type 0f bank,fdetent tabs .35' areprovided on opposite sides of the'opening. 32. As shown in Fig. fl, uthese tabs are oiset and have their under surfaces substantially ush with the top surface of the bottom wall, thereby acting as detents to limit movement of the plate inwardly within the opening. The fastening means of this form of the invention is provided by the screw 31.

In certain types of banks where the access opening is not provided with retaining or detent ridges or tabs, it is necessary to provide means to retain the plate within the opening of the bottom. This is accomplished by the form of invention shown in Figs. 5 to 7. As here shown, the plate is composed of plate members 4I and 42 united by means of a rabbet joint 43 formed by overlapping portions 44 of each member. The fastening means 45 is screwthreaded into the member 4| and passes through a suitable aperture formed in the member 42. In this form of invention, a slot 46 is extended from the screw opening toward the outer end of the member, whereby the relative movement of the two parts may be facilitated when the plate is to be removed from the opening. For reasons just above pointed out, each of the plate members 4I and 42 is provided with two spaced lower retaining tabs 50 and with a centrally arranged upper retaining tab 5I. As clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the tabs 50 and 5l are arranged in offset relation with the body of the plate `4U and engage respectively the bottom and top surfaces of the bottom 52 of the bank, shown in dot-anddash lines. When the plate of this form of invention is to be contracted and removed from the opening, it is only necessary` to loosen the fastening screw sufficiently to permit the overlapping portions 44 to ride over the adjacent outer surfaces of the respective members whereupon the members may be moved relatively to each other,

While I show and describe closure plates of rectangular shape, it is obvious that my invention is applicable to plates of other shapes, such as circular.

What I claim is:

1. A closure plate for disposition within the opening of a wall, comprising two separate plate members having their inner adjacent ends of reduced thickness and in overlapped relation with each other, detent means carried by said plate members for retaining said members when assembled within the opening of the wall, a centrally arranged fastening screw for securing said plates together, said screw passing through said ends and having its axis perpendicular to the face surfaces of the plate members, said screw being threaded into the inner end of one of the plate members and loosely engaging the other as shown in Fig. 7 to permit the plate to be suf- 'l ciently contracted to be removed from the opening 53 in the bottom 52 of the bank.

In the form of invention shown in Fig. 8, the plate 54 is formed with a plate member 55 having a locking tab 56 spaced some distance from the free edge of the member for engagement with the inner surface of the bottom wall of the bank while the projecting portion of the member engages the bottom surface of the bottom of the bank. Spaced retaining tabs 60 are formed along the free end edge of the plate member 6| for engagement with the upper surface of the bottom of the bank when the plate is engaged with the opening and is in extended position not shown. The screw 62 which passes through the rabbet joint 63 serves to draw and hold the members together.

From the foregoing, it will be clear that when the closure plate of either form is to be removed from the opening of the bank, it is only necessary to release and unscrew the fastening means part Way. This will allow the two members of the plate to assume the angular position shown in Fig. 2 or the overlapping position shown in Fig. 7. In either of these positions, the plate will r plate member, said fastening means when loosened permitting contraction of said plate for placement within the opening of the wall.

2. A closure plate for disposition Within the opening of a wall, comprising two separate plate members having their inner adjacent ends of reduced thickness and in overlapped relation with each other, detent means carried by said plate members for retaining said members when asv sembled within the opening of the wall, a centrally arranged fastening screw for securing said plates together, said screw passing through said ends and having its axis perpendicular to the face surfaces of the plate members, said screw being threaded into the inner end of one of the plate members and passing through an enlarged aperture formed in the end of the other plate member, said fastening means when loosened permitting relative endwise movement of said plate members, whereby said plate will be contracted for placement within the opening of the wall.

3. A closure plate for disposition within the opening of a wall, comprising two separate plate members having their inner adjacent ends of reduced thickness and in overlapped relation with each other, detent means carried by said plate members and by said wall for retaining said members when assembled within the opening of the wall, a centrally arranged fastening screw for securing said plates together, said screw passing through said ends and having its axis perpendicular to the face surfaces of the Aplate members, said screw being threaded into the inner of the overlapping portion may be moved to thereby permit additional contraction of the plate.

end of one of the plate members and passing through an enlarged aperture formed in the end of the other plate member, said fastening means when loosened permitting relative endwise movement of said plate members, whereby said plate will be contracted for placement within the opening of the wall.

VERNON D. HOWE, SR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 337,984 Oliver Mar. 16, 1886 470,173 Bean Mar. 8, 1892 1,160,740 Martin Nov. 16, 1915 1,175,674 Andrew Mar. 14, 1916 2,144,982

Jones Jan. 24|, 1939 

